Pres. Koroma urges int’l accountability of Ebola funds

President Ernest Bai Koroma has urged the need to foster international accountability for Ebola funds that were received by various international non-governmental organizations.

The Audit Service Sierra Leone last Friday released a damning report on the use of Ebola funds that were directly received by the government of Sierra Leone. The report, which has been tabled in Parliament by the Auditor General, Lara Taylor-Pearce, raised serious questions of how some civil society organizations, individuals and politicians managed billions of Leones between May and October 2014.

“Members of Parliament will scrutinize the report and individuals and organizations indicted will have the opportunity to react. As we have done our own part, we are expecting also international accountability,” President Koroma said. “This is accountability through and through.”

President Koroma made the appeal yesterday at a roundtable forum organized by the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA) on the theme: ‘Post Ebola Economic Recovery’.

He said certain international organizations received Ebola funds and that, “We are demanding accountability from the international community.”

Meanwhile, Parliament is yet to announce when it would review the report and proffer recommendations to either the anti-graft body or Law Officers Department for charges to be brought against individuals who should account for the alleged mismanagement of Ebola funds.

A previous report by the Audit Service, the Annual Reports of the Accounts of Sierra Leone 2013, is yet to be deliberated on by lawmakers since it was tabled in December last year.